Convenient Fall (First 7 Chapters)

Chapter 5

Megan looked up at the bleachers. About halfway up on the right a girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail jumped up and down while she waved. Megan waved back and made her way up the stairs to where Abby waited. Lance stood up from his seat on the end, towering over both of them, so that Abby could pull Megan into a tight hug.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" squealed Abby.

Megan squeezed her back before they broke apart. "It's only been a couple weeks, and we've been texting." She moved past Abby to the seat they'd saved for her.

Megan leaned forward so she could look past Abby, letting her gaze roam over Lance. He looked good as always in a Superman t-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders, the breeze ruffling his dark hair. Abby had lucked out when she scored this one. "Hey, Lance. How's it going?"

He grinned back at her, his dark eyes warm. "Good. You? How's life in my old house?"

"Uh, it's interesting."

Lance laughed. "I bet. They behaving themselves?"

"I guess? I don't see them a whole lot between classes and practices and away games. I see Matt more than Chris because I'm his tutor, but we're almost always talking about class stuff. I don't know what they get up to when I'm not around."

Lance's eyebrows climbed his forehead and a look of speculation entered his dark eyes. "You're tutoring Matt? That's ... interesting. Are you tutoring Chris too?"

She shook her head. "No. Matt wanted me to be his tutor because we have a couple classes together. He convinced the coach to let him work with me instead of the regular tutor because of that and because of his history with the other tutor."

"Huh." Lance didn't say anything else, just looked her over with that same speculation in his eyes before he turned away.

Megan didn't have much time to think about what that look might mean before Abby reclaimed her attention. They chatted about the semester and how classes were going so far. Their paths didn't cross much on campus. Megan was an art major with a marketing minor, and Abby was majoring in Spanish. Not a lot of crossover there.

The one thing that was glaringly obvious was how happy Abby was. Megan hadn't ever seen her like this. Between Abby's mom and her brother's disappearing act a few years ago, Abby had had a lot on her plate without much help. Megan had known Lance would be good for Abby since shortly after they'd started seeing each other over the summer. Seeing her now, you'd never know she had anything weighing her down. She was buoyant and more animated than Megan had ever seen her.

Conversation died down when the game started. They were playing Campbell Christian College, a small school in Oregon. Megan's parents would've preferred that she go there, even though they were happy about how close she'd be to home at first. That is, until she'd moved in with Abby and stopped going to church by the end of the first semester.

Lance cheered throughout the game and she and Abby joined in when it seemed appropriate. They giggled together about everything, since neither of them followed football that much. Megan knew what was going on because she'd grown up watching her brothers play. She hadn't been to a game since high school, though. Once her middle brother graduated after her junior year, she hadn't felt the need to go. Being at a game again made her miss him.

It was fun to see names she recognized on jerseys again, even if they weren't related to her.

It was a close game. At halftime the other team was up by a touchdown. They maintained their lead throughout the second half. But at the end of the fourth quarter, Chris caught an interception. He ran it back, dodging and twisting to keep away from would-be tacklers. Right before he got to the end zone it looked like they were going to get him. A CCC player got ahold of his jersey.